Carl Katter
| birth_place = Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | home_town = Mount Isa and Charters Towers, Queensland | residence = Melbourne, Australia |party = Australian Labor Party | parents = Bob Katter Sr. & Joy Katter |relations = Bob Katter Jr. (half brother) Rob Katter (half-nephew) Kahlil Gibran (first cousin once removed) | awards = included in the 2011 Top 100 Notable Melburnians }} Carl Robert Katter is an Australian LGBT rights advocate and member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In 2011 Katter was included in the Top 100 Notable Melburnians. He was formerly a board member of Australian Marriage Equality and in 2013 he was elected to the Victorian ALP Environment and Planning Policy Committee. Early years and background Carl Robert Katter was born in Brisbane Queensland on 12 January 1978 to federal MP Bob Katter, Sr. and Joy Katter. He grew up in North-West Queensland. Katter was named after his Grandfather Carl Katter, a Lebanese migrant who settled in Cloncurry, Queensland in 1896 during a local gold rush. Throughout his childhood, his father was a member of the Australian Parliament representing the federal electorate of Kennedy in Far North Queensland. Katter was heavily influenced by his father's Labor and trade unionist politics, as well as his father's belief in equality for people of all races. As a local councillor and later as a federal member of parliament, Katter's father was committed to promoting the welfare of Aboriginal people and this had an immense impact on Katter's sense of social justice. As owner of the local picture theatre his father removed the steel railings which separated the Aboriginals from white Australians. This belief in social justice for all people has had a profound affect on Katter, who has become known for his advocacy of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Australia. His father died when Katter was 12 years of age. Activism In August 2011, Bob Katter Jr., Carl Katter's half-brother and Independent member of Federal Parliament representing the Division of Kennedy, appeared at a right wing Christian rally at the Great Hall in Australia's Parliament House and decried same-sex marriage. Carl reportedly watched on television as his half-brother mocked same-sex marriage and suggested that it "deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed." Carl Katter decided to publicly come out regarding his own homosexuality and join the push for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. He approached GetUp! an independent Australian grass-roots community advocacy organisation. With the help of GetUp!, Katter produced an online video message to counter his brother's comments. In a television interview with George Negus Katter said that he could not "just sit back" and allow Bob Katter Jr. to denigrate gay people and the campaign for same-sex marriage, "it's hurtful, it's dangerous and it's really inappropriate." In 2013 Carl engaged in a Twitter 'skirmish' with the Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Tim Wilson. In September 2012 Katter joined the Fitzroy Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In July 2013 Australian online media outlet Crikey reported a rumor from an unnamed mole that Carl had been ditched as an ALP candidate. Honours * Top 100 Notable Melburnians – Katter was included in the Top 100 Notable Melburnians in 2011 by The Melbourne Magazine. References Category:1978 births Category:Australian people of Irish descent Category:Australian people of Lebanese descent Category:LGBT politicians from Australia Category:Australian Labor Party politicians Category:LGBT rights activists from Australia Category:People from Brisbane Category:People from Melbourne Category:People from Mount Isa, Queensland